Anytime someone tells you that the Sonic series is on a decline, show them this game.
Gameplay: 9/10
THIS is what the Sonic series is all about: high-speed platforming, ring collecting, high-speed platforming, predictable but challenging bosses, and high-speed platforming. This game delivers even more high-speed platforming than other Sonic games, mostly due to the new trick system: button-mashing tricks used during spring-jumps and grinds, as well as massive enemy damage, fill up a meter that can be used to easily do a high-speed invulnerability dash. This makes for even fewer breaks between periods of platforming action, as you don't have to charge up Spin Dashes. In addition, the game features touch-controlled Sonic-2-style special stages, which I am an absolute sucker for.
Graphics: 8/10
First, let me get this out of the way: The Nintendo DS might just be the best cel-shading machine that man has ever made. That being said, Sonic Rush's inventive combination of 3D cel-shaded characters, 2D environment sprites, and scrolling backgrounds gives this game an art style like few other games on the market today. All this is amplified by the double-tall action stages (a nice touch: the HUD is always on the screen you are on, so you don't have to move your eyes as much) and the 2.5D wraparound boss battles.
Sound: 9/10
With this game, Sega went from the synthesized melodies of previous 2D Sonic games to a high-speed eurobeat-esque soundtrack that, frankly, matches the game's mood perfectly. Ordinarily, in a game that uses dialogue stretches to advance its plot, I'd demand voice acting... but then I realized that this is a Sonic game. At least what little voice acting is there (yells of "Hey!" and "Cool!" and stuff like that from Sonic, Tails, Blaze and Cream) is bearable... more than I can say from recent Sonic games.
Value: 10/10
This game is SO worth the twenty-five dollars I paid for it. Seven zones, each with two acts and a boss, equals a game that I'm still playing after months... and I still haven't bothered to unlock the super final boss and bonus zone. (Yes, I know, I suck.) The zones all follow the franchise's rules for zones (forest zone, water zone, Vegas zone, desert zone, et cetera), while still feeling different from any other Sonic game. Plus, there's a multiplayer mode that uses all of the game's action stages, and a time attack mode. The only quibble I have is that the two playable characters, though they reveal two different parts of the storyline and play the zones in a different order, aren't that different.
Overall: 9.3/10
Buy or rent: Buy